


heed the sirens

by nonbinarywithaknife (littleboxes)



Series: dimension 20 [19]
Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Betrayal, Campaign 05: A Crown of Candy, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt No Comfort, Loss, brief mention of dissociation, graphic descriptions of grief i guess?, i feel like i should tag this but im not sure for what, me doing descriptions for a crown of candy is just sugar-[noun], so many run on sentences and that's after i edited them down
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:35:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24704677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleboxes/pseuds/nonbinarywithaknife
Summary: Theo follows the eastern thread, and prays he isn’t choosing one princess over the other.The good news: he isn’t. The bad news: he’s still wrong. The truth: Theo was never going to be able to save all of them.
Relationships: Theobald Gumbar & Amethar Rocks, Theobald Gumbar & The Rocks Family
Series: dimension 20 [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1706107
Comments: 8
Kudos: 48





	heed the sirens

**Author's Note:**

> someone needs to stop letting me listen to the oh hellos anyway the title is from pale white horse

Theo walks into Toby’s quarters, wary, hand already migrating to Battlepop’s hilt, because never once in the decade they’ve known each other has Toby ever been _sloppy_ , and when the iron door slams shut he stops. 

Breathes. 

His mind races and he doesn’t slam his shoulder into the iron door that is suddenly looming taller than before, even when the jeers of the _\- traitors to the house of rocks, betrayers of Candia, how could they_ do _this_ , do they have no _honor_ \- guards outside chill his spine. There will be time to be nauseous later. 

He spares one last glance for Toby’s body- a good friend and a better knight, and Theo will make sure he is given the honorable burial he deserves, later, when there is time- and oh, how he hopes there will be time- before he rests a paw on the doorknob and channels _knock_. 

When the dust and splinters settle he’s already striding forward, and his face is as cold as his sword. The guards- from Muffinfield, all of them, and as Swirlwarden pulses on his arm a sinking feeling enters his chest. Because Theo isn’t stupid, and he should have known better than to assume anywhere was safe, not even home. There is a traitor in this castle, and whoever they are should pray to the Bulb that if they are successful that they aren’t found by him. 

The only reason he wastes time on the guards is because they are close enough to the royal wing he won’t risk the Queen or the princesses by leaving them free to roam. They go down like wheat to his scythe, and as he gazes down at their bodies Theo finds he doesn’t feel much of anything.

The magic of Swirlwarden seems almost frantic, and as he pushes his awareness into it he feels almost... split in two. Like the adrenaline and fear and panic and the desperate whispers of _you can’t fail again not again, you promised to protect them, you swore an_ oath are trapped behind sugar-glass, and all that’s left is the muscle memory of the Ravening War. 

He finds himself grateful for it, and tries not to think about what another war will do to him. It’s never been the damage he takes that matters. 

His boots clang on the swirled marble floor, and Swirlwarden’s magic leads him to the family he has sworn to protect. As he sprints, heavy and loud and determined through the halls of the castle, the magic begins to _wend_. 

One thin, ethereal thread that’s as much in his head as it is in front of his eyes, leading to an eastern wing of the castle, and the other fading off into the distance. To Dulcington. Theo has no way of knowing who is where, but he thinks of the princesses, sixteen, sneaking out into town for the first time, and he thinks of the princesses, sixteen, balancing together on the highest wall of the castle.

Theo follows the eastern thread, and prays he isn’t choosing one princess over the other. 

The good news: he isn’t. The bad news: he’s still wrong. The truth: Theo was never going to be able to save all of them.

He’s almost there when the explosion- because that’s all he can call it, the great fiery wave of heat and debris that rolls across the sugar-grass, the great heaving of the ground that would have knocked anyone else on their back- hits. 

He runs somehow even faster into the heat, and as he crests the hill the sight takes his breath away, and were the thread of magic from Swirlwarden not still pulsing with his heartbeats, Theo would have dropped to his knees right there, as King Amethar the Unfallen stands, flames wreathed across his skin, finery in tatters, the golden shine of Payment Day blinding even in darkness. 

Theo can only stand there as Amethar notices something in the distance and then _screams_ , and it’s horrible and raw and makes the still-heated air around them freeze, because Theobald Gumbar has heard that scream exactly one other time, when Amethar had cradled the body of his last living family on the cratered ground of Pangranos.

It feels like something holding him in control has snapped as the other connection to Swirlwarden dissolves, and as the king rages, Theo knows two things: that Jet Rocks is dead, and he has failed once again. 

**Author's Note:**

> can't stop thinking about murph saying theo was originally meant to be a self sacrificial character but how in the aftermath of the church fight he became more of a practical fighter and the way murph played him as he was trapped in toby's room, just still and quiet and thoughts racing for a way to get out instead of blindly charging the door? head full thoughts theo


End file.
